The time has come again for another rotation of Fall flowers. Read on to learn a little more about how we bring the spirit of this enchanting season to your home!
What's Inside?
Fall holds all our homiest, harvest-inspired designs. From colors to textures, we're going for combinations that remind us of all this season offers: Rich golds and coppers bring a familiar sense of wonder, like the feeling of leaves crunching under your boots. Deep purples and wine reds keep us warm when the sun drops down early, and forest greens inspire feelings of abundance. We pay homage to corn husks and woven baskets with plants that mimic their natural dryness, as is seen with many of our grasses. Fall is the time when plants prepare for the cold winter ahead, and in many cases, this means preparing for end times. Colors fade, leaves fall, and we are reminded to appreciate the beauty in death. Fall is our final chance to enjoy what is given from the earth before the earth must take it back. And that feels like something worth celebrating! Now let's look at how our design elements work together to create our celebratory vision.
Centerpieces
Our containers must be planted with particular attention paid to the shape of the design. This is why we start with a centerpiece as our thriller. If you remember our blog on Christmas containers from last year (link,) you might remember that the concept of a thriller is to provide a vertical element to draw the eyes from the top of the design down to the densest portion of the container. This is why we select naturally taller centerpieces. In the Fall, we will be making a lot of use of some of the taller ornamental grasses, such as Pennisetum and Millet. Additional centerpiece options include Hydrangeas, Ferns, Echinacea, Cryptomeria, and Arborvitaes.
Annuals and Perennials
Our centerpieces are held cozily together with generous plantings of our favorite fall annuals, like the almighty Pansy, its little sis the Viola, and all of the fun ornamentals: peppers, cabbage, kale, and smaller grasses. Additional Fall annuals include favorites like asters and mums, along with other likes plectranthus and celosia. Once we have all the color we want to achieve from our annuals, we can benefit from adding some perennials for texture. Fall is an excellent opportunity to use the myriad options of the leafy Heuchera to fill out a container.
Trailing Touches
Of course, you know by now that our containers are often completed with the touch of a spiller element or the detail that drapes over the edge of the container. Smaller grasses like carex are a perfect way to incorporate this in the fall as there are semi-dry varieties that complement the Fall aesthetic beautifully. Additional options for spillers can include long trailers like Lysimachia and Algerian Ivy. If you don't like your containers to look too overgrown, Heuchera can also be used on the edge of a container to add some overflow that doesn't get too long.
Decoration
There will be pumpkins. Classic orange pumpkins, exotic heirlooms, gourds, spookies - we'll have them all! A pumpkin is a perfect addition to a container, peaking through the flowers and foliage. And while Fall may not get as many dried elements as Spring, we may still dress our containers with last-minute accents such as eucalyptus, ghost wood and grape wood branches, lotus pods, bell cups, and dried hydrangeas. Each of these can work well in combination with a pumpkin or gourd, or they can be left out in favor of allowing the pumpkin or gourd to take center stage on the backdrop of your gorgeous container.
Fall Displays
Don't worry; we're not finished with our pumpkins! There are countless larger varieties, such as Cinderellas, One-Too-Many's, Jarrahdales, Blue Hubbards, Peanut Pumpkins, Long Island Cheese, Porcelain Dolls, Cabochas, Knuckleheads, Baby Boos, Luminas, as well as others, that lend the perfect shapes and colors to a front door display. We'll throw in a few hay bales and corn stalks, and you're ready for an October gathering! Installs for Fall flowers and seasonal décor will begin in mid-September. Give us a call or email if you're not already on the schedule!